Trivia for the day. I prayed my first Rosary for peace in 1990 when I was teaching in a Catholic school in Iowa. I wasn't Catholic and had no idea how to pray the Rosary. I didn't pray another Rosary for 15 years. But, I organized my Spanish club to join together and pray the prayers in Spanish that day in 1990. Back then, I found the Spanish version easier to say/pray - because I still had a strong anti-Catholic bias against things like the Rosary. Strange how praying in another language freed me from that bias long enough that I could join with my students in prayer. I still remember how to pray those prayers in Spanish. Padre Nuestro... Dios te salve Maria...
Nikki, a student at Beckman High School, taught me the order of prayers and helped me to lead the students. We prayed in the Adoration Chapel. I had no idea that Jesus was truly present in the Tabernacle. I knew that the Communion bread was there - but that is all I knew.
Today was the first time since that day that I prayed a Rosary for peace - this time as a Catholic.
I suppose I will always feel like a little girl, the little sister of the Cradle Catholics, but I have come to love my little place in the Church. I am blessed to learn by watching and listening with an open heart.
And it is good.
May Our Lord hear our prayers for peace and spare our world the tragedy of more violence. May our leaders exercise restraint so that no one suffers at the hands of our country's leaders.
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